Final Showdown
by Chloe1
Summary: Palmer returns to seek his final revenge on Harm. Harm must race to save his family from Palmer before its to late...cheesey summary I'm sorry I'm not very good at them. Please read and review! Final chapters posted.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the JAG characters (as I've already said before) CBS does. I'm w writing merely for entertainment, I'm making no money (unfortunately). Now I say this once and I'll never say it again please READ AND REVIEW and no flames they wont do you any good. I'm not an editor so I apologize now for my editing mistakes and for the gaps. Now that I've said this once I'll never have to say it again…for the rest of this episode. Enjoy!

A/N: This is my last JAG family episode, but I realized I had to do one more episode. This is in a way the continuation of Episode One: Stolen Angel…you do not have to read it to understand it though. Palmer is back again to take care of some unfinished business. (Side bar I've realized that I made two stories episode two so this is officially episode 5 but they were not in any particular order).

**Episode 5**

**Final Showdown**

**Chapter 1 **

**The Return of Palmer**

It had been twelve years since Palmer came too in the ambulance after a well executed recovery by his partner narrowly escaping his ill fate in the hands of the American government. He had managed to remain low, evading the Americans and the British. He was wanted in both nations, for numerous crimes. In the past ten years he conducted business with terrorists, delivering weapons to enemies of the Americans and British, running illegal drugs across Latin America, and the occasional assassin's job. Always managing to escape the authorities at the last second, but not a day has gone that he has not remembered that fatal day twelve year ago, when a man almost took life, he had not yet forgotten. He had been keeping tabs on this man and his family through some old contacts, and had been plotting, and he realized that now would be the best time for a reunion with Harmon Rabb and his family.

Rabb Residence

Honolulu, Hawaii

0700

"Girls come on lets go you are going to be late for school!" Harm called up the steps to his daughters. Commander Rabb had temporarily been placed in charge of the JAG's Island circuit. After the retirement of Admiral Chegwidden the JAG family seemed to split and go their separate ways. They still managed to meet up once every year for a 'family reunion', and the admiral was a frequent visitor to the Rabb home, as it was hard for them to get out to the admiral for he had moved to Italy to be closer to his daughter.

"Natalie, Lucy I am not going to tell you again!" Harm hollered up the steps, his patience dwindling. Mac was currently in Okinawa defending a marine who resided in Honolulu, but had to go to court in Okinawa for a crime he was accused of while stationed in Japan. Harm sighed as he removed two blueberry bagels from their sack and lightly spread some cream cheese on for the twin's breakfast, putting both on a paper towel next to the girls lunch sacks. He heard the familiar thundering noise of his twin daughters racing down the steps. He turned to see his eleven-year-old daughters jump from the third step to the ground floor.

"How many times have I told you girls not to jump from the steps one of these days your going to break your foot, then you'll be sorry." He scolded as he handed them their bagels and stuffed their lunches in their backpacks.

"Sorry Dad." The girls apologized, as they began nibbling on their bagels, Harm assisted them each with putting on their backpacks, he then picked up his briefcase and pushed them out the door.

"You two have the ability to tell time like your mother, and yet you are never on time!" Harm teased, as he they got into their car and pulled out into the Honolulu morning traffic. The middle school the twins attended was not far from their home, and fortunately not far out of the way of the JAG headquarters at Pearl Harbor. As Harm pulled up to the middle school he could see that he was not the only one who had trouble getting his children moving as he saw other children scampering out of their parents cars and running up the steps into the building.

"Have a great day at school girls I will see you after practice!" He called after them.

"Bye Dad!" They called back as the raced into the school with only a few minutes to spare before the first bell.

As Harm pulled out of the school parking lot he was unaware of a car parked across the street from the middle school, Palmer slouched down in the front seat to avoid Harm accidentally spotting him. As Harm pulled out of sight Palmer raised back up his binoculars as he watched Harm's twin daughters race into the school. He had been informed that Harm and Mac had twin daughters but this was the first time he really saw them.

"Not bad Harm." He complimented as he started the engine to his car and pulled out he had much to do before enacting his plan.

I know a lil short but I promise not to have any large gaps so please review and I will post this weekend!


	2. An Old Friend

Disclaimer in chapter 1. Please review I love to hear responses from you! To Michelle UK you stole my idea!

**Chapter 2 **

**Letter from an old Friend**

The school bell rang Natalie leaped from her chair and raced down the hall to her locker. Natalie never locked her locker, so she was able to pop her locker right open. As she opened her locker an envelope fell out, she picked it up, it was addressed to her dad. That was odd she thought, but she shrugged it off, it was probably from the front office. She wondered what she or Lucy did that deserved a letter from the front office. She stuffed the envelope in the front pocket of her backpack and slammed her locker. If she were even one minute late to practice Coach Allen would make her do fifty push up before getting in the water for practice.

As Natalie raced into the locker room, she noticed her twin sister was already dressed in her suit, she was pulling her hair back and under her cap by the time Natalie put her bag down. The swimming pool was across the parking lot from the school, it was a district sponsored pool, but only high schools had teams. Natalie and Lucy swam on a US swim club team that used the pool. The pool was beautiful, it was indoors but the back wall was nothing but windows that opened up to the patio that looked out onto the mountains. It was an eight-lane pool with a separate diving well for the diving team.

"Hey don't forget mom is coming home today!" Lucy reminded as she dug through her swim bag for her goggles.

"I know she promised to bring me back a kimono I hope she remembered." Lucy emerged triumphantly with her goggles from the depths of her swim bag.

"See you out there." She called over her shoulder as she raced. Natalie sighed she heard the sound of her other teammates starting their warm up. She was pulling the straps of her swimsuit over her shoulder when she heard Coach Allen start his countdown. 'Oh no.' She grabbed her goggles and cap as she raced out of the locker room, she threw her cap on and as she dove into the pool she managed to tighten her goggles. She could here Coach Allen laughing from the deck as she began her warm up, she made it with only seconds to spare.

Harm waited patiently outside of the pool waiting for his girls to come out of practice. He took off the rest of the day so he could go pick up Mac from the airport. He was so relieved to have his other half back, not that he didn't appreciate having some time with his girls, but he missed her. Harm glanced down at his watch to check the time, when he glanced up again he scanned the parking lot out of boredom. He noticed a car parked in the back of parking lot, with a man sitting in the driver's seat, there was something strangely familiar about the man, but Harm shrugged it off he didn't know many of the parents of the swimmers. Harm was distracted when the back door opened; he turned to see Lucy and Natalie crawl into the back seats.

"Hey girls how was practice?"

"Brutal, Paige and Chloe would not stop talking so Coach made the entire team swim and extra 400." Natalie complained.

"Then we had to do sprints from the blocks." Lucy sighed, Lucy was a long distance swimmer she hated doing sprints. Harm smiled sympathetically at his daughters.

"Sorry about that but it will help you in the long run." The glare he received from his daughters clearly read they 'did not care', so he started up the engine. "Ready to go get your mom?" The girls nodded, they were clearly exhausted. Harm turned back to the parking lot as he pulled out he noticed the car was no longer there.

**Honolulu Airport**

"Welcome back Colonel Rabb." The inspection officer greeted as he handed back her passport.

"Thank you." Mac accepted as she put her passport in her purse. She walked out the door and was greeted by her family standing by their car. Harm came up and took her luggage from her, kissing her on her forehead; Mac returned the kiss and turned to her daughters who raced over to greet her. "I missed y'all so much, and yes I brought back your souvenirs." Mac answered in anticipation of the question, as they all got into the car.

"How was the case." Harm asked as they merged onto the highway.

"I won of course." Mac smiled triumphantly, "turned out an old rival from boot camp framed my client." Harm took Mac's hand and kissed it.

"I knew you could figure it out." Harm complimented, Mac turned back to her girls.

"So how was your week?" Mac asked her daughters, who she could clearly tell were exhausted from their swim practice.

"We had a lot of homework, but Dad said we didn't have to do any and we were allowed to stay up past our bedtime and watch rated R movies and eat tons of candy." Lucy teased, Mac laughed at the look Harm gave, she knew her daughters were teasing her, but Harm's facial expression was priceless. The rest of the car trip was uneventful, as they arrived at the house the girls raced in. They wanted to check their computers to see if any of their friends left any messages.

"Hey, hey, hey." Mac called up to her girls, they halted in their tracks and turned and smiled at their mom. "Weren't progress reports sent out yesterday?" Harm cringed as he carried Mac's suitcases in behind her, he completely forgot about progress reports.

"Yes ma'am." The twins replied, Harm placed Mac's suitcases in their bedroom, and came back out to see their progress reports.

"Lucy four As, three Bs, and one C well we can work on that how bout you Natalie?" Mac held out her hand to accept Natalie's progress report, as Natalie pulled the report out the envelope fell from her backpack.

"What's this?" Harm inquired picking up the envelope, Natalie shrugged.

"It was in my locker, addressed to you." Natalie explained, Harm gave a funny look as he opened up the letter and began to read.

"Natalie your grades aren't that bad either, still need to work on your math though." Mac commented she held up the progress report for Harm to read, but stopped when she saw Harm's expression. The color in his face was completely drained and his eyes read a mixture of horror and anger. "Harm?" She asked, noticing his focus on the letter.

"Girls go to your room." Harm ordered, the twins exchanged confused looks, what did that letter say that forced them to go to their rooms. "Now please." Harm snapped the girls scurried collecting their backpack and raced up the steps to their room.

"Harm what is it?" Mac inquired, Harm didn't say anything he just handed her two pictures and a letter. One picture was of Lucy at lunch laughing with her friends; the second one was of Natalie walking down the hall with her books in her arm obviously in between classes. The letter was a simple typed letter that read…

I can get this close to them.

Therefore I can do anything.

It's time for a reunion.

-An old friend.

I stop there I wish for some more reviews before I continue!


	3. Harm's Nightmare

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

Thanks again to all who reviewed it encourages me to update more often!! As far as the rank, yes I believe Harm is captain already I think I just forgot. _Italics are a dream sequence._

**Chapter 3**

**Harm's Nightmare**

Lucy hung off the side of her bed; her hair lying on the carpet she played with a loose piece of thread on her bedspread. Natalie sat in the wicker chair by the window she had her Spanish book laying open on her lap, she was trying desperately to memorize her numbers for the quiz on Wednesday they had to be able to count to 100 and spell it correctly.

"So what did you do?" Lucy finally asked after sitting in their room for twenty minutes in awkward silence.

"What? Me? I didn't do anything what did you do?" Natalie snapped back.

"The letter was in YOUR locker, therefore its your fault, I didn't do anything." Lucy defended herself; Natalie pouted at the fact that she was being accused of getting in trouble. As far as either of them could recall neither of them had done anything that deserved a letter sent home, and being sent to their rooms. There was the name calling incident between them and the school's own 'mean girl' Holly Williams but that was several weeks ago and Holly did not have the reputation of squealing. The girls would have spent the rest of the evening bickering over who was at fault when the door to their room they shared opened and their parents entered.

"Natalie get away from the window." Their father ordered, Natalie jumped up from her seat momentarily forgetting her Spanish book, which fell to the floor spilling the loose leaf pieces of paper and quizzes she had stuffed amongst the pages. She knelt down quickly collecting the papers before her parents caught her failing quiz grades.

"Will talk about those quiz grades later." Her mom commented, Natalie cringed she wasn't quick enough to escape her mother's well-trained eyes. Lucy sat up on the bed, she could tell by the tone in her dad's voice that something was seriously wrong.

"I just want to apologize." Lucy started, Harm was closing the wooden blinds on the window, he and Mac gave a confused look.

"For what?" Mac asked.

"For whatever that letter said that got us in so much trouble." Lucy added. Both Harm and Mac's eyes softened, they then realized that their daughters had no clue what was happening and believed that the letter was school related.

"Its not that type of letter." Harm assured.

'Oh." Both girls answered, relieved and at the same time puzzled.

"So why were we sent to our room then?" Natalie asked. Harm glanced over at Mac they had briefly discussed downstairs their course of action, they didn't want their daughters to be scared but at the same time they wanted them to be cautious.

"I needed to discuss something private and urgent with your mom." Harm explained, the girls nodded not exactly sure of what to make of the whole situation. Harm and Mac had been careful when it came to telling their daughters about their past cases, they had avoided cases that involved Singer, or Palmer or anybody who had a personal vendetta on them not wanting to scare them.

"It was a letter from someone your mom and I had not heard from in a long time." The twins both sat on their beds, studying their parents, Harm continued. "We don't exactly know who it is, but we know it's defiantly not a friend."

"Is it Brumby?" Natalie inquired Mac and Harm both turned to her.

"How do you know about Brumby." They demanded.

"I….I don't really know anything about him… I just heard Uncle Bud mention him once, but he stopped talking when he saw me and wouldn't tell me anything." Natalie explained.

"How much do you know about him?" Mac asked.

"Not much at all, only that after we were born he tried to hurt Dad." Mac sighed.

"It's not Brumby, we know that for sure. We don't want you two to be scared, we just want you to be careful. Always pay attention to your surroundings and who is around you avoid anyone who is suspicious or strange and if you ever feel threatened call your dad or me." The girls nodded, despite their parents' attempt at assuring them they still felt scared.

"So how about I make some of my vegetable lasagna?" Harm suggested, uncomfortable with the current scenario at hand.

Later that night after their homework was completed, and they both took their shower, the girls went to bed, but not before Harm checked their window for the 8th time and set the alarm for the entire house. Mac was sitting up in bed re-reading "To Kill A Mockingbird", when Harm entered after inspecting the house thoroughly, she put the book on her nightstand as Harm got under the sheets. Harm opened the drawer to his nightstand to check his gun again, Mac gave a slight smile she had already checked her gun three times herself.

"Harm." She reached out to touch him on the shoulder; she could feel the knots and the tension in his back. "Harm, please just try to get some sleep." Mac requested.

"How can I?" Harm replied not looking up from his gun.

"Harm you need your sleep, you need to be on top of your game, your need to be sharp and well rested in order to figure out who is behind this." Mac argued, Harm knew she was right so he placed his gun back in the drawer and turned off the lights.

_"DAD! DADDY PLEASE! Daddy please help us!" Harm could hear his daughters cry, Harm was back in Virginia in his old JAG headquarters the office was abandon, and from somewhere in the building Harm could hear his daughters cry._

_"NATALIE! LUCY!" Harm cried out climbing the steps two at a time. He heard a blood curdling scream he flung open the door to his old office and saw a black figure standing over his daughters limp bodies, the figure held a gun and before Harm could catch a glimpse of the person the figure disappeared out the door. _

_"NO!" Harm cried, rushing to his daughters' side, only to realize he was to late. He was too late and it was his entire fault, he couldn't protect his own daughters. "NO!" He screamed out. _

Harm sat straight up in his bed a cold sweat soaking his body, Mac sat up in concern, after hearing Harm cry out. Harm found himself tangled in the bedsheets he flung them off his body and got up.

"Harm?" Mac asked.

"I have to check on the girls." He explained. Harm hastily walk down the hall to his daughters' room, he pushed the door open only enough so that he could slip in without causing too much light from the hallway to enter their room. Harm checked on both girls watching them breath, just like he use to do shortly after they were born, reassured they were alright he turned to leave.

"Daddy?" He heard Lucy whisper.

"It's me sweetheart I'm sorry to wake you up its ok just go back to bed." He assured, Lucy nodded satisfied enough, and easily feel back to sleep. Harm only wished he could be as easily assured himself that everything was going to be fine, one thing was for sure he was going to be going through he until he figured out and stopped who ever was behind this.

That's it for now. I made it longer just in case I don't get to update until this weekend. I am just swamped this week, but please review and I will be sure to update soon!


	4. The Invisible Man

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

Thanks to all who reviewed I love reviews they inspire me to continue!

**Chapter 4**

**The Invisible Man?**

Harm did not get much sleep, after tossing and turning in his bed for two hours he finally got up; he didn't want to wake Mac. He got dressed and went for a run, he loved running down the beach, and at this hour there were no tourist or patrons sun bathing, just a few devoted surfers catching some early morning waves. After running for two miles Harm stopped at a local market that dotted the highway that ran along the beach, he pulled out a five-dollar bill and bought himself a bottle of water. As he stepped out into the parking lot he had the funniest feeling that someone was watching him he was looking around but couldn't find anything suspicious. The feeling remained though, he heard a set of footprints coming up from behind him, he whipped around preparing to defend himself only to find a woman in her early 20s jogging up pushing a stroller with a sleeping toddler.

"Relax Harm, you're becoming paranoid, soon you'll jump at your own shadow." Harm thought to himself. He finished off the water bottle and tossed it into the nearest trashcan and took off in a run back to his house, he knew that Mac would be awake soon, and would be worried if he wasn't there.

Harm entered his house, he heard a noise coming from the kitchen he glanced over at the clock on the wall, it was too early to be any member of his family to be up. He slowly made his way to the kitchen arming himself with an iron candle tray that he removed from the table in the hall. As he entered the kitchen he heard a noise from behind him, he jumped out of the way narrowly missing a sauté pan. He swirled around raising the iron candle tray above his head, but stopped when he saw his 'attacker'.

"MAC!"

"HARM!" They exclaimed lowering their weapons.

"This is insane were becoming paranoid! If were not careful were going to hurt each other, or worse our own daughters." Mac snapped, returning the sauté pan to the hanger above the stove, she returned to the breakfast she had been making.

"I know." Harm agreed walking over to the island where Mac was adding the finishing touches to their breakfast. "How long have you been up?"

"You weren't the only one who couldn't sleep." Mac grumbled, Harm winced he wasn't sure why he didn't think that Mac would not be affected as deeply as him. "They're my daughters too, I carried them for nine months. Just because the letter wasn't addressed to me doesn't me I'm not scared too." Mac snapped she looked into Harm's eyes and felt guilty instantly. "I'm sorry, like I said I didn't get much sleep." She apologized.

"I need to apologize too, I'm so sorry." Harm confessed. "While running I thought someone was following me turned out to be a mom pushing her child." Mac shock her head.

"This is horrible, not knowing who to watch out for makes me more agitated, I feel like I'm chasing after the invisible man."

"Or women." Harm added. Mac just sighed. "We should get ready that way we can take the girls to school."

**Junior High**

"Dad do you really have to walk us in?" Lucy whined, on the drive to school Harm announced that he and Mac were going to walk the twins in.

"Are you embarrassed by us?" Mac teased. The girls didn't respond, they were to busy thinking about what they were going to tell their friends. Mac took their silence as a yes, she understood the girls were entering that age where their parents could do nothing but embarrassed them, but it would put both her and Harm at ease to escort their daughters in. Once the car was parked the twins jumped out of the car, Mac and Harm raced to catch up.

"They'll make good marines someday." Mac whispered to Harm.

"Or navy pilots." Harm whispered back, they both laughed for the first time since last night. Once inside the school the twins picked up speed in order to ditch their parents. "Hold up!" Harm called after them, the girls came to a halt, reluctantly turning to face their parents.

"Now remember what we told you, if you feel at all threatened go to the principal or one of your teachers, or an adult in this school then call us. Don't approach anyone you don't know, and just be careful." Mac reminded.

"Yes ma'am." The girls answered.

"Ok get to class." Harm dismissed them; the girls turned around and quickly raced down the hall. "They couldn't wait to get rid of us could they?" He commented.

"No they couldn't, but at least they aren't afraid to leave us." They went into the front office and explained to the principal, after being reassured by the principal that everything was going to be fine, they then turned to leave.

**JAG Island Circuit Office**

Harm stared at his computer each case he had ever worked on, now had a file on his computer. He had no clue where to start, the letter was addressed to him, but did that mean this person was from a case before Mac even became his partner? Or was it a motive to deceive him, he scrolled through the list of all the cases he had ever worked since he joined JAG over twenty years ago. Harm opened the drawer to his desk and pulled out the note, rereading it for the millionth time, just then an idea hit him. Harm placed the letter down on his desk and opened up his bottom drawer, he still had a box of gallon size ziploc bags in his desk, why he originally put them there he couldn't remember but he was extremely grateful now. He opened up one of the ziploc bags and pushed the letter into the bag. He was hoping that whoever this was, was stupid enough or might have just slipped up and handled the note without gloves. He rushed out of his office with the ziploc bag and note in hand.

"TINER!" He called, Harm had to act quickly, he had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

**Junior High**

Lucy was leaning back in her chair, which was teetering on only two legs, she had a habit of this, she couldn't exactly explain why. She had completed her math test before the rest of the class, and the teacher had instructed them to remain quiet while the rest of the class completed the test. She was perfecting her technique of balancing her pencil on her nose when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked out the window for a brief second she could of sworn she saw someone standing outside looking in, she dropped her pencil she looked down for only a second and when she looked back up the figure was gone. She put her chair back down, and strained her neck to get a good look out of the window.

'Get a hold of yourself Luc your seeing things.' She tried to convince herself, but she wasn't buying it, she was getting a funny feeling in her stomach, she had remembered what her mom told her earlier.

"Is something alright Lucy?" Lucy looked up and into the eyes of her math teacher, who was probably curious of Lucy's sudden fascination with the outside.

"Not really…can I go to the restroom?" Lucy didn't want to explain what she thought she saw to Ms. Sanders, she just wanted to get to her sister.

"Very well." Ms. Sanders agreed handing her the restroom pass from off her desk, Lucy grabbed her purse and ran out the door.

Natalie handed her quiz over to Ms. Lopez, her Spanish teacher, time was up and Natalie had left many of the blanks empty, after last nights ordeal she found it hard to concentration on the last twenty numbers.

"Natalie did you study?" Ms. Lopez asked.

"Si, ma'am I tried, but I had a …family…emergency…come up last night and I kind of got distracted." Natalie tried to explain, Ms. Lopez sighed.

"The test is next week Natalie make sure you study hard this weekend."

"Si, ma'am." As Natalie turned around she glanced out the window, she could of sworn for a second she saw someone standing right outside the window, but whoever or whatever it was, was gone before Natalie got a better look. As she turned back towards her desk she heard a light taping at the door, she looked up and in the small window in the door she could see her sister, gesturing eagerly for her to come out. Lucy was a devoted student, and Natalie knew it had to be serious if she was trying to get Lucy to come out of the classroom.

"Ms. Lopez I'm not feeling really good." Natalie turned to look back at her teacher; Ms. Lopez looked up from the quiz she was grading.

"Can it wait until the end of class, the bell is about to ring?"

"No, no I don't feel very good ma'am I need to go to the bathroom." Ms. Lopez sighed and handed her the pass.

"Thank you." Natalie thanked as she took the pass, grabbed her purse and ran out the door. Lucy had darted around the corner, in order not to be spotted by Ms. Lopez she stepped out when she heard the door open and close. "What's the matter?" Natalie hissed, as Lucy pulled her into the nearest bathroom.

"I don't know what to do…I was done with my math test and I was sitting at my desk and I looked out the window and I could of sworn someone was looking back at me." Lucy explained in a hushed voice so no one passing by the restroom could here.

"That's weird because after I turned in my Spanish quiz I could have sworn I saw something out of my classroom window too." Natalie confirmed.

"So what do we do? Call Dad?" Lucy asked.

"And have him freak out? With our luck he will have us being babysat by some marine." Natalie argued, not exactly thrilled at the thought of being babysat.

"Alright lets make a pack…if either one of use sees something even remotely suspicious we call Dad." Lucy proposed.

"Alright deal…now I have to get back before Ms. Lopez starts to get suspicious."

"Me too, I bet Ms. Sanders is starting to wonder what's taking me so long." The twins departed.

Palmer silently cursed himself, he did not want the twins to spot him, but he was comforted by the thought that with his disguise, and the fact that neither of the girls really got a good look at him, they would not be able to identify him. Palmer retreated back to his car; he was suppose to meet a contact in twenty minutes, he knew if he was going to do something he would have to do it soon. Palmer smirked it wouldn't be long before he set his plan in action, and had Harm right where he wanted him.

I made this chapter extra long, so I am hoping for more reviews, and I will update soon!


	5. Gone like Yesterday

Disclaimer in chapter 1

AN: as always thanks for all the reviews. I am so sorry for not updating sooner I was working on the chapter last week when my computer deleted it, (how I don't know I'm computer illiterate). Then it was a week of exams (and its not even midterms yet just evil professors), followed by the flu to now where I am finally able to update! To Deb thanks for the review, I always appreciate them, but I need to argue your point Pearl Harbor is on the same island as Honolulu, its on the island of Oahu. Its not the big island but they're both on the same island, not far apart I've been there, its absolutely beautiful. I hope you will review again soon though. To everyone else here is the next and overdue chapter!

**Chapter 5**

**Gone like Yesterday**

Mac leaned onto the table rubbing the temple of her forehead, she had been fishing through case files that dated back to the 90s looking for any suspect, anybody who had a grudge that perhaps had been released recently.

"How about Reid?" Mac suggested, raising her eyes to look at Harm, who looked just as bad as she did. Corporal Reid was accused of beating his former girlfriend, and kidnapping her daughter and attempting to take her across the Mexican border. This was back when the Rabb's lived in San Diego, Harm prosecuted, and the jury found Corporal Reid guilty, Reid swore he'd get vengeance on Harm like they do in a cheesy low budget film. Harm dismissed the threat, a few months later, Mattie took the twins to the park, and Corporal Reid attempted to kidnap the twins, fortunately Mattie and off duty police officer intervened. Corporal Reid was the only one who ever came close to kidnapping the twins, or tried, with the exclusion of Brumby who made the threat. Harm sighed as he typed something into his computer.

"No it couldn't be him, Reid was released two years ago, and then was dishonorably discharged from the marines, only to move back to Maine and be re-arrested for several DUIs." Harm read. Mac sighed this was getting them nowhere, other then a trip down memory lane. Mac's head snapped up.

"What about Jenkins or Singer?" Harm's head snapped up and started right at Mac.

"I haven't thought of them." Harm admitted. He typed more into his computer; he shook his head 'no'. It was horrible but he had been hoping it would have been there, its odd, buts it's different when the threat has a face. "Both are still serving time back on the mainland." Mac sighed out of frustration, she too had been hoping it was them.

"It's an endless list of dead ends." Mac grumbled.

"I know, I know." Harm agreed. Just then P.O. Burns entered the room.

"Sir, ma'am there is a lieutenant Gonzalez from the lab on line two for you." Mac informed.

"Thank you petty officer." Harm thanked as he answered the phone.

"This is Captain Rabb."

**Junior High**

**Later that day**

"Dang it." Lucy cursed throwing her purse into her swimming locker.

"What's the matter?" Natalie asked in concern.

"My cell phone, its not in my purse, it must of fallen out in the car again, Mom told me I should zip up my purse." Natalie reached into her locker and dug through her purse, she triumphantly pulled out her cell phone.

"Here use mine." She offered tossing Lucy her cell phone, the girls phone were identical with the exception of covers. Lucy's was bright pink; Natalie's was orange.

"Thanks." Lucy accepted she flipped open the phone, she sighed. "Your battery is dead sis." She tossed Natalie her phone back, Natalie sighed.

" I forgot to charge it again last night." She slipped it back into her purse. "Oh well you will just have to call Zack later." Natalie teased, Lucy turned with this innocent yet surprised look on her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lucy played innocent.

"Oh yes you do, Zack Taylor, everybody in school knows you two have been crushing on each other forever now." Natalie provoked.

"Oh yeah well what about you and Austin Holmes." Lucy teased back, Natalie instantly grew quiet.

"You're not going to tell dad are you?"

"Not as long as you don't."

"DEAL!" The girls giggled, there were some things they just never told there dad, he was so protective of them, in a good way, but in the same way he refused to let the girls date till they were in college!

"Natalie, Lucy Coach Allen is calling for you two." Ashley informed, Ashley was a close friend and teammate of the twins. The twins looked up at the clock; they still had five minutes before practice started. They walked out of the locker room and up to Coach Allen he turned back towards the girls.

"No practice for you two today, I just got off the phone with your dad, he said he is on his way to pick you up, he said he'd explain in the car. Go change out of your suits and back into your dry clothes." Coach Allen instructed. The twins were confused; they worried if it had to do with what they were talking about last night. The twins raced back to the locker room, and changed they were scared, they had no clue what was going on.

"I wondered why he called Coach." Lucy wondered.

"Probably because he tried to call your cell, found it in the backseat and then tried mine…"

"And your phone is dead." Lucy finished. "That explains it." Five minutes later the girls were dressed and outside in the parking lot. They saw their dad sitting in his car in his usual spot; he was still in uniform wearing his aviator sunglasses that he loved.

"Lucy, Natalie come on hurry!" He called to the girls. The girls ran to the car throwing their bags in the trunk like they always did and crawled into the back seat. They barely had enough time to buckle up, before the car took off out of the parking lot.

**JAG Island Circuit Office**

**Same Time**

"Natalie's phone is off." Mac grumbled in frustration. "And I found Lucy's cell phone in the back seat." Harm pulled up his phone book on his computer.

"The girls should be in swim practice now we should call Coach Allen's office." Harm suggested.

"I have his number in my cell." Harm looked up at Mac, she smiled.

"A good mother and a good marine is always prepared." The phone rang three times before Coach Allen picked up; Mac could hear the sound of swimming in the background.

"This is Coach Allen." He answered.

"Coach Allen this is Colonel Rabb, can I speak to one of my daughters please." Mac requested. There was a pause on the other line.

"I'm sorry Colonel Rabb you can't right now."

"I know they're in the middle of practice, but it's an emergency." Mac requested nibbling on the end of her ballpoint pen.

"I'm sorry Colonel, I meant the girls were gone. Captain Rabb called over an hour ago and came and picked them up." Harm watched as Mac's olive complexion went pale, and her pen fell to the ground.

"That's impossible… Coach can I call you back later." Mac hung up before getting a response.

"Mac?" Harm asked not hiding the concern in his voice.

"According to Coach Allen you picked up the twins an hour ago." Harm's face grew equally pale.

"PALMER!" They said in unison.

That's it for now, I promise to update this week if I get more reviews!!


	6. Worse then Algebra

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed I would appreciate more though, so keep those reviews coming!

As promised I updated sooner, so I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 6**

**Worse then Algebra**

Dad wasn't talking to us he spent most of the car ride talking in a hushed voice in what sounded like another language on his cell phone. …. Odd Dad didn't speak any other language fluently enough to hold a conversation in…. as far as they knew.

"Where are we going?" Natalie leaned over and whispered to her sister.

"I have no clue." Lucy replied, almost as soon as the girls got into their car, their dad got on his cell phone, he didn't give them any explanation. There was something … odd… about Dad. Also where was mom? Was something wrong with Mom? Were we going to the hospital? The girls knew better then to interrupt their dad on the phone when he was speaking quietly, they learned that at an earlier age. It was unlike their Dad to leave them in the dark about anything. It must have been something serious for him not to inform them.

All of a sudden the twins realized they were leaving the city…where were they going? Hickman Air Base? Pearl Harbor? If so why did the twins need to accompany their dad… they continued to drive, and their dad stayed on the phone not offering any explanation. They both started to get a little worried, and had no clue where they were going. They finally pulled up to an old airstrip, it was used to repair planes during World War Two, now was a private air strip that housed a few private jets. The car pulled up next to a private jet sitting out on the tarmac, the engines running. They watched as three civilians emerged from the aircraft, what was going on? Their dad finally hung up his phone as he cut the engine to the car; the civilians approached the car.

"Dad what's going on?" Lucy finally asked

"Get on the plane." He ordered, not offering further explanation, somewhere deep down in the girl's conscience their inner voice was screaming 'don't get on the plane', but the girls ignored it. They got out slowly, wondering what was going on. They stopped halfway to the plane and turned back to their dad who was still standing back by the car talking to the third men. The girls weren't sure what it was whether it was his mannerisms, as he talked to the man, or the way when he smiled it wasn't his famous 'flyboy grin' as their mom calls it. Maybe it was the awkward car ride, but just then something triggered simultaneously in the twins that this wasn't their dad, and something was dead wrong. Just then their 'dad' looked up at them, he smiled at them. "Don't worry girls get on the plane I will shortly follow." The twins didn't budge, there 'dad's smile turned to a frown.

"What's going on?" Demanded Natalie.

"Where is mom?" Asked Lucy.

"And why do we have to get on this plane?" Added Natalie.

"Girls just do what I ask and get on the plane I'll explain later." Both twins shock their head's 'no' in direct defiance of their father. His face's complexion turned a tint of red. "I don't have time for this." He snarled, totally out of character of Harm, the final straw of proof that he was not their father. He signaled to the other two civilians who were escorting the twins onto the plane; before the twins could resist the men grabbed them dragging them onto the plane. The twins tried to resist twisting their bodies in self-defense maneuvers their mom taught them. The men must have expected this because they had maneuvers to counteract theirs; before the twins could escape they were forced onto the plane. The third man and their 'dad' bordered the plane and closed the door, they looked over into the cockpit and watched as a pilot and co-pilot started to take off. The twins, despite being held down by the men, still tried to get out of their hold, their 'dad' laughed.

"You two are no doubt the children of Harm and Mac, you two are just as resistant and stubborn as they are!" The plane began to take off; he smiled in satisfaction, the twins, exhausted by their efforts and knew that it was hopeless now, collapsed back against their seats. "Good girls." He praised.

"Who are you? How do you know our parents? What do you want from us?" The twins demanded the man just laughed.

"I go by Palmer, I'm an old friend of your father's and I am planning a little reunion, and I know your father will come, he will come to rescue his daughters." The color in the twin's faces drained, they felt sick as they learned the truth.

"You're using us as a trap?" They whimpered.

"You two are a bright pair." He complimented stroking their identical cappuccino brunette hair, the girls tried to pull away from him, but this only frustrated him more and he yanked on their hair pulling them towards him. "Cute." Was all he said before releasing their hair. Natalie looked out the window and realized they were now over the Pacific.

"Where are you taking us?" Natalie inquired, he turned to look out the window and smiled.

"I have a great house, in Mexico have you two ever been there?" The twins did not respond, and he did not wait, he went up to the cockpit and did not return for the rest of the flight. Both twins were holding back tears, they wanted their mom so bad they wished she was here to hold them, protect them, and tell them everything would be alright.

"This is worse then algebra class." Lucy whispered trying to crack a joke; she saw a smile tugging at the corner of Natalie's mouth.

"We're going to be ok right?" Natalie whispered back.

"Yeah, Dad is going to rescue us don't worry." Lucy assured more for herself then her sister, the twins had a superman complex for their father…there only hope was that he could fulfill it.

That's it for now if I get a lot of reviews I may post another chapter by the end of this weekend, and it will be from Harm and Mac's POV, so please review!


	7. A Mom's Prayer

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: As promised here is the second, revised, and better chapter. Once again sorry for the long update as I've said between recovering from the flu, escaping to the mountains for a week of RR, and then midterms it took me awhile to update, so I hope it was worth the wait. Once again I will promise to post two chapters before I disappear to Florida in a little over a week. Now that is the last time I will say that! Thanks as always to those who reviewed and really do appreciate your opinion, so please review. To The Blur I hope this chapter is much better! I also noted that I haven't posted a chapter in Mac's view, so that is where I decided to take this chapter angle.

**Chapter 7**

**A Mom's Prayer**

Mac didn't know what came over her…she was a marine…a jarhead…one of the few and the proud…everything they used to describe a marine, and yet when she realized that Palmer had kidnapped her daughters she had been reduced to a comatose, pathetic state. It was Harm who called every contact that he and Mac had and soon they were over crowding both their offices and the bullpen. Mac remained in a numb state sitting perched at the end of Harm's computer chair staring at the screen. Every once in awhile she would double click on the file Harm had pulled up on Palmer, that was up to date on his recent profile on charges from around the world. As Mac read the profile the icky feeling in the pit of her stomach grew to an acid, ulcer state in which she felt she was about the throw up all her stomach content. This man, if he deserved to be associated with the human race, had her daughters, her flesh and blood the love of her life.

That's when it hit her, like a bolt of lightning, what was she doing, what good was she doing in the search for her daughter's sitting at a desk re-reading a well known file? She glanced up at the clock on the wall…five hours had passed! How did she loose five hours when it felt like only five minutes? Mac's eyes then settled on a picture framed on Harm's desk, it was a picture of all four of them that was taken there first free weekend after they moved to Hawaii. The twins had their identical smiles the same 'flyboy grin' their father had, the whole family was laughing so hard you could see it in their eyes. They were wearing their swimsuits the whole family was attempting to surf, though they did it on occasion in San Diego once they moved to Hawaii they decided to really pick it up, a good family exercise. They had all stuck their surfboards in the sand in the background, it was the twins' idea, they wanted to recreate a photo like you would see in a 1960s beach movie. Mac picked up the frame gently stroking the picture with her finger. She wished that this was all a bad dream, that any second now her daughter would come bounding into her office, telling her about their day, and their recent crushes that they kept secret from their dad.

"Please God, protect my babies, please bring them back safe to me." Mac prayed, she was normally not the religious type, but she acknowledged the fact there was a God, and that only He right now could really watch over her daughters.

"Mac?" Mac looked up and into the eyes of her concerned husband, she attempted a reassuring smile, but instantly started crying, her body shook as she tried to suppress her sobs. Harm closed the door behind him and went up behind Mac wrapping his arms around her supporting her allowing her to cry on his shoulder.

"Harm I don't know what is wrong with me. I have been unproductive for the past five hours, and I've been out of character. I've been through similar predicaments before, why now am I so … weak?" She cried.

"Because this is the first time it has ever involved the girls."

"I know, it would have been different if it were me, why didn't he take me instead of the girls." Harm tightened his grip on Mac.

"Don't say that, don't you dare say that, its hard enough on me with the girls it would be just as equally hard if he had taken you." Harm turned Mac so that she was looking into his eyes. "The last time someone took you I almost died. If Palmer were to take you too I don't know what I would do." Harm temporarily grew quiet, staring at Mac before continuing. "We will find them Mac, the girls are strong, they are our daughters after all, and when we do we will make sure Palmer will pay." Mac gave a genuine, confident smile.

"That's just what I needed to hear." Harm gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Good now if you are ready I would really appreciate some help." Mac nodded eager to help. As she instantly got caught up in the hustle and bustle of the attempt to find the twins, she couldn't help but think about the girls in the corner of her mind.

Were they cold? Scared? Hungry? If you had told Mac back in the 90s when she first met Harm that she would marry him, and become the proud yet protective mother of two she would of laughed. She never saw herself as the motherly type, it was a perfect role for people like Harriet and Jen but not her, and yet here she was, and it felt totally natural.

**Baja, Mexico**

**Two hours later**

The jet landed at a small, rural airfield, at the end of the runway were two jeeps they drove up as soon as the jet came to a halt. The twins were forced off at gunpoint and loaded into two separate jeeps where they were blindfolded. They must have driven for about twenty minutes; nobody spoke to them though a few words were whispered in Spanish. The jeeps finally came to a halt and the girls were once again pushed out of the jeeps, while still blindfolded they were led into a building of some sort. By the smell of the air the girls assumed they were somewhere near the beach. Once indoors the blindfolds were finally removed the twins blinked their eyes; they were standing in a room with no windows only two cots were set up against the opposite wall. By the time they got their bearing straight they heard the door slam behind them, and they were left in the dark. The girls reached for each other entwining their fingers, searching for strength from each other.

"It's going to be ok." They assured each other as they moved towards the cots.

**JAG Island Circuit Office**

**Same Time**

Two hours had past and despite the fact they had been productive, it had produced nothing. Just when Mac was really starting to get concerned the phone in Harm's office rang.

"Captain Rabb." Harm answered, the voice he heard on the other end, made his blood pressure shoot up.

"Harm, it's been a long time."

Well that is it for now I hope it was worth the wait, and much better then the last chapter.


	8. Somewhere in Mexico

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: As always thanks to all who reviewed I would really love some more though, I love hearin' input and knowin' what y'all think, even if it's a "good story" review. I know I originally promised two chapter before I go to Florida, but I leave Wednesday mornin', so unfortunately it will only be one (writer's block). I hope y'all enjoy it though.

**Chapter 8**

**Somewhere in Mexico**

Harm clutched the phone as if he could choke the man on the opposite end.

"Palmer." He hissed into the phone, Mac's eyes locked onto Harm she signaled everyone around her to be quiet. Harm switched the phone to speakerphone, so everyone could hear the conversation.

"The one and only, how long has it been Harm…twelve years?"

"I don't have patience for small talk." Harm snapped, he could hear a chuckle from the other end.

"That's what I love about you Harm always to the point. Is that lovely wife of yours with you? I do miss her she has the…" The color in Harm's face turned a deep shade of red.

"She is here…and you have no right to talk about her!" A cold chill ran down Mac's spine as she recalled the last time she was with Palmer…

**Flashback**

…_Palmer had tied her good and tight._

_"So you don't try to pull any of your marine moves on me." He whispered in her ear as he graced his lips against her cheek, she turned away. Palmer yanked on her hair, so he could see the front of her face, she spat at him, and he slapped her…_

_"What are you going to do to her?" Harm demanded, a smile snuck across Palmer's check, he began to stroke Mac's hair, she tried to pull back but her restrains wouldn't allow it._

_"I was thinking of getting to know Mac better…" Palmer replied._

**End of flashback**

Mac shuddered at the memory of the incident over eleven years ago, her attention quickly returned back to Harm and the phone conversation.

"Now, now captain that is no way to talk to the man holding your children." Harm unclenched his fist staring down at the phone.

"What have you done with my daughters?" Harm demanded.

"Nothing yet, they are stubborn like you Harm, but gorgeous and strong like their mother, they put up a good fight." A small smile tugged at the corner of Mac's mouth she was proud of her daughters. "Unfortunately not good enough. As I said I have don't anything YET."

"What do you want Palmer." Harm demanded.

"Simple…a fair trade you and Mac for your daughters. The way I see it, it's a fair trade. I want you and Mac to pay for what you've done." Palmer sounded like a bad guy in a low budget film, expect this wasn't a movie this was real life.

"No, leave Mac out of this, it's between you and me it always has been." Harm argued.

"No, you two or no deal, and you are in no position to negotiate I have your daughters." Harm was about to argue back when Mac put her hand on his arm in protest. If it meant saving her daughters she would gladly go in their place, besides she wasn't about to let Harm go after Palmer on his own. Harm looked over at Mac it only took a split second for him to read her eyes, Harm knew there was no point in trying to argue with a marine, especially Mac.

"Where?" Harm inquired.

"I will contact you later with more details." Palmer replied and without holding on for a second the conversation ended. Harm looked over expectantly at the man who attempting to trace the phone call, the man from NCIS looked up and shook his head sadly.

"A few more minutes and maybe sir. I can tell you, guaranteed, he is not in Hawaii, by the looks of the map somewhere in Mexico, on the Baja peninsula." Harm and Mac looked over the map.

"Then I guess I'm off to Mexico, I can have any further call patched through to my cell phone." Harm decided Mac nodded in agreement.

"And I'm going with you." Harm began to protest, but Mac cut him off before he could. "And if you think that for one minute I'm going to stay here while you go running off risking not only your career, but your life and the lives of our daughters you are wrong. I am going, you heard Palmer, and that's it." Harm forgot all about his career he was in charge of the island circuit office after all. This time he did not need anyone else's permission to go chasing after his daughters, there was no one to object or try to talk him out of it. He had done it before in Russia and Paraguay, therefore he was going to do it now.

**Baja, Mexico**

The twins were fighting off sleep, they were afraid to close their eyes. As they were about to loose the battle with their eyelids the door to their room opened, light flooded in and the figure of the man cast a shadow on what little light was admitted into the room. The twins sat straight up on their cots to face the man who entered the room.

"I'm glad to see you two still up." Palmer spoke, he entered the room carrying a plate for each girl, and he placed each plate down beside their cots, neither of the twins moved. They stayed still sitting perched on their cots, concentrating on Palmer. "Eat." He ordered, which both the girls disobeyed.

"Fine, I will leave the plates here though." Palmer turned to leave, but not before adding. "You will be happy to know I spoke to your dad." Both girls' faces light up at the mention of their dad.

"Knowing Harm he will be here soon, along with Mac. When they get here though I will be waiting and they will finally get what they deserve."

"No!" One of the twins exclaimed, Palmer smiled in satisfaction.

"You two already knew you were a trap, you are your parent's sole weakness." Palmer looked down at the plates of food in front of each girl, as he turned to walk out of the room, he stopped at frame of the door and smiled. "Bon appetite."

Well that's it I am exhausted, I hope y'all like it, as always I'd appreciate input and would love to know where I should go with this. Also I know it's a little out of character but it is my fanfic!


	9. Almost Perfect

Disclaimer in chapter one.

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed even if you don' t I love seeing the number of hits increase, but I'd love to see the number of reviews increase so as always jus drop a line I'd really appreciate it. Sorry for the minor gap after I got back from Florida I was swept up in a week of non stop activity and then a short period of writer's block, so I am sorry but I hope it was worth the wait!

**Chapter 9**

**Almost Perfect**

Harm glanced out the window for what had to have been the hundredth time in the past hour. It did not take long for Harm and Mac to drive to Hickman Air field and board a cargo plane bound for the mainland, considering the circumstances they allowed Harm and Mac aboard, once the arrived in San Diego they would make travel arrangements for Mexico. Mac studied her husband, she knew he was anxious to get to Mexico and get to his daughters, she was just as anxious. She did not want to think what Palmer was doing to her daughters; she wondered how Palmer kidnapped her daughters to begin with. Palmer was a crafty man though; he probably disguised himself and was able to trick Natalie and Lucy into going with him, she only wish she had been there to protect her daughters. She accepted the fact though that she couldn't be with her daughters every waking second, that would drive all three of them nuts. They had only been on the plane for three hours, but it felt like it had been an eternity, she wished that this plane could go faster. Only two more hours, she kept assuring herself, only two more hours before they reached the mainland. She looked over at Harm once again, he had returned his focus to the cockpit, they would not let Harm fly much to his disappointment, and Mac could only imagine what Harm would be doing if he were flying the plane.

"Harm." Mac spoke to where it was only audible between the two of them, with the exception of the crew they were alone on this flight, the plan would be to meet with an NCIS team once they landed in San Diego. Mac knew though if they were not sitting on the runway waiting for them once they arrive that she and Harm would start off without them. Mac still did not get Harm's attention. "Harm." Mac spoke up a little louder, this time he turned to look at her. Judging by the look in his eyes Mac became very worried, the turmoil, the storm that dwelled in the depth of his eyes, she only wished she knew what he was thinking right then.

Mac had snapped Harm out of his concentration, he looked over at her, a veil of concern replaced the warm sparkle in her eyes. He knew then that she was trying to understand what he was thinking, and maybe on some level she knew. It was tearing him up inside, Harm felt guilty, guilty for the kidnapping of his daughters, guilty for dragging Mac back into this nightmare, and guilty for not getting rid of Palmer the first time. Mac reached out her hand and placed it on top of Harm's, she attempted to give him a comforting smile, and Harm returned the smile, as his gaze turned back to the window. Though he tried to hide it, inside his anger was boiling, he could not wait to get a hold of Palmer.

**Baja, Mexico**

It had been three hours and despite the girls hunger they refused to touch their food, a silent protest against their kidnapping. In the past three hours nobody had come down to see them, they had been left alone, whispering words of encouragement to each other.

"Don't worry Mom and Dad are going to save us." They would whisper or… "They're already on their way and they won't fall into Palmer's trap."

Upstairs Palmer watched the TV screen, he watched the twins interact, unbeknownst to them there was a hidden camera in the air vent. Palmer smirked, they reminded him a lot of their parents. Just then Carlos walked in, Carlos was an old contact back when Palmer use to smuggle drugs and weapons through Latin America, he owed Palmer a few favors.

"Our contact reported that the Rabbs boarded a cargo plane bound for San Diego about three hours ago." Palmer smirked, he knew Harm would not sit around and wait for him to call back, Harm was falling right into his trap.

"Good everything is going just as I want it too, we stick to the original plan, if all goes through smoothly you and your men will be paid double." Palmer promised, Carlos smiled.

"If I may ask senor what is this personal vendetta you have against this navy captain and marine colonel?"

"Harm has interfered with my plans one to many times, and the last time we were together he almost killed me. I believe that is sufficient enough reason to kidnap his daughters." Carlos nodded in agreement, with the figures that Palmer was promising, Carlos didn't need any further details.

"Very good, when our San Diego contacts calls us, I will inform you and we can start the next step." Carlos added, Palmer smiled, it was almost perfect.

A/N: That is it for now, sorry it's short, it's really late at night, and I wanted to stop before it started getting cheesier. I will try to update soon, but I have two research papers due soon (finals are coming up!), so I am going to apologize now for a huge gap, but I will try to post as soon as possible. On a final note my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Virginia Tech.


	10. Cocina de Abuela

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: For the sake of moving this story along, so I can finish it up and avoid more gaps I am moving the timeline up a few hours, and its long! Please review though so I know people out there still care, I love to get reviews.

**Chapter 10**

**Cocina de Abuela**

Mac watched as Harm sped the truck that they rented towards the Mexican border; it reminded her a lot of the time they spent in Afghanistan. She could see the border on the horizon, it took less then an hour for Harm and Mac to get off the plane and grab a rental. They could not take a military vehicle across the border, they also left everything behind that was military issue except their ID and gun, they didn't want the military to be connected with anything they did that wasn't by the book. The NCIS team was not waiting when they arrived at the airport and Harm and Mac did not wait for the team to arrive. Not even two minutes after they started to drive off in their rental did an agent from NCIS call them.

"Colonel Rabb this is Agent Latour of NCIS we are at the airport, where are you and the Captain?"

"I'm afraid Agent Latour that the captain and I are already on our way to Mexico, we can't afford to sit around and wait." Mac informed.

"Colonel if you would be so kind to pull over we will meet up with you as fast as we can." Agent Latour attempted to persuade.

"I can't do that Agent Latour you see I am not driving, and Captain Rabb and myself are not going to stop, we can't do that." Mac explained.

"Colonel I highly advise against this, it's against protocol…"

"With all do respect Agent Latour if the roles were reversed and it was your children you would not obey the protocol either, nor would you wait, I'm sorry." With that Mac hung up refusing to explain herself anymore and risk endangering their careers. She looked over at Harm, he had been silent since they arrived, and he was clearly occupied by his thoughts.

Harm slowed down as they approached the Mexican border, fortunately there wasn't that long of a line. He began tapping his hands on the steering wheel, he was anxious, he wanted to get to Palmer, he went to far kidnapping his daughters, and if he had gone so far to hurt the girls in anyway Harm doubted he would be able to contain himself. He looked over at Mac, she was right now looking out her window, Harm wondered how he could get Mac and the girls to safety, Palmer had already expressed interest in Mac, and Harm would not let Palmer to get the satisfaction of having his wife. No matter what happened to Harm, Mac and the girls had to be safe. He knew that Mac was capable of taking care of herself, but he still felt responsible for her, that Harm had to protect the women in his family. He wasn't sure what he was going to do once he crossed the border, he did not know where Palmer was holding his daughters, and he did not know where to go. It was their turn they pulled up to the border patrol officer, Harm and Mac both pulled gave their passports for the officer to check them.

"How long do you plan to stay in Mexico." The officer inquired.

"About three days." Harm lied; he honestly had no idea.

"And what is your business in Mexico Mr. and Mrs. Rabb?"

"Personal business." Harm answered, it was a satisfactory enough answer for the officer he handed back their passports.

"Have a safe stay, and enjoy your trip."

"Thank you." Harm put the vehicle in drive as he pulled away from the border, and into Mexico.

Palmer sat out on the patio under the cover of a table umbrella, he sipped his drink, and watched as the waves came crashing ashore, he was finishing his meal, it had been awhile since he found the time to relax like this.

"Senor Palmer." Carlos's voice interrupted Palmer's thoughts; he turned to see Carlos standing in the doorframe. "Senor Palmer, our San Diego contact just called. The Rabb's have already landed and rented a vehicle, they probably already crossed into Mexico by now." Palmer laughed as he finished his drink.

"Knowing Harm he is so anxious to get to me he probably is." Palmer moved from the table and went into the house, the old wood floors creaked under his feet, it was impossible to move about silently. He went to the monitors to check on the girls, both had finally fallen asleep, their exhaustion finally won, he would let them sleep for now he did not need them up yet. He picked up his pre-paid cell phone and dialed Harm's cell number.

"Rabb." Harm answered his phone.

"Harm so I hear you are in Mexico, I knew it wouldn't take you long to find me, tell me dear friend are you and Mac just loving the weather we are having today?"

"Where are you Palmer?" Harm snapped.

"Now it wouldn't be that easy now would it? Tell you what I am going to send one of my men, Carlos, out to get you, and to ensure his safety and mine I am going to send him out with one of your daughters. If he sees anyone other then you or Mac he will kill your daughter, and if you do not make it back here in time I will kill the other one." Palmer explained, knowing that he would have the upper hand.

"No, that won't be necessary, Mac and I will come alone, and I swear Palmer if you hurt either of my daughters…"

"I am tired of your threats Harm, now listen closely because I will only say this once. You are going to drive to Rosarito, there is a family owned restaurant called 'Cocina de Abuela', go to the back room, Carlos will meet you there. Remember he may have one girl, but I have the other one and you are on a strict timeline, totally alone, and on time!" On that note Palmer hung up, he looked over at Carlos.

"Take whatever men you want, and take Lucy, you know what to do." Palmer instructed Carlos nodded and went into the living room where some of the men waiting for instructions.

"Let's move out." He ordered the five men assembled in the room, the men proceeded out to the jeeps and Carlos went to the room where they were holding the twins. Palmer was standing in the doorframe; the light must have not bothered the twins, as they were still fast asleep. Both twins were curled up under their blankets he could not tell which one was which, so he decided to wake them up.

"LUCY." Carlos yelled, both girls jumped but only Lucy sat straight up, Carlos did not allow time for her to gain her bearings, he grabbed her and pulled her out the door.

"Nat!" She screamed Natalie sat straight up and a look of horror came across her face as she witnessed her sister being dragged out of the room.

"Where are you taking her!" Natalie demanded, in two swift movements she was across the room trying to intercept Carlos, but Palmer moved faster and was able to stop her.

"Lucy is going to go on a little trips to get your parents, you are going to stay with me." Palmer pulled Natalie close to him as he stroked her hair, Natalie pulled back and tried to run again, this time Palmer hit her, causing her to fall to the ground.

"NATALIE!" Lucy screamed as Carlos was forced to literally drag her out of the room. Palmer watched as Natalie tried to get up again, she was stubborn and independent just like her parents.

"You don't give up do you?" Palmer quipped; Natalie glared at him, as she moved again for the door, this time Palmer delivered a punch to the abdomen, Natalie collapsed to the ground, out of breath in extreme pain. Lucy continued to resist being taken, terrified of where she was going, and out of concern of being separated from her sister who was struggling to breath. "If she continues to resist you can do the same, but don't kill her!" Palmer instructed, Lucy heard this and discontinued her fight long enough to allow Carlos to pull her out.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have too, so cooperate and I won't have too." Carlos instructed. Lucy was loaded into one of the jeeps where her arms were tied back and she was blindfolded, as they drove off towards the town.

Carlos and his men arrived at the restaurant before the Rabb's, Carlos had done a lot of business at the restaurant, and he paid off the family that owned it to pay no attention and ask no questions. He temporarily untied Lucy but was held tight between two men to prevent attracting attention. Carlos instructed the owner, Ramon, in Spanish if an American couple came looking for him that if they were alone to come to the back room and knock five times. Ramon nodded; he was a man in his early 60s that had seen enough in his life to know better then to question anything. He looked at the young girl between two of Carlos's men; she must have been American. She had brown hair; a sun kissed complexion, an European facial features. Carlos and his men and the young girl moved to the back room, and Ramon returned to the few customers that remained from the dinner crowd. Twenty minutes later a couple entered; the young girl was the spitting image of the two, who were no doubt her parents. The man was very tall, well built, with a pale complexion and brown hair and European features, while the women was slightly shorter, clearly in shape, tan complexion, and appeared to have slight middle eastern facial features; Ramon approached the couple.

"You looking for Carlos?" He inquired in broken English, he could see the couple was hesitant to respond. "I take you." Ramon led the couple to the back of the restaurant, his daughter and niece watched him as the cleared off the tables, they knew better then to question any business here, but normally they did not get Americans here. Ramon knocked on the door five times; he turned to address the couple.

"Carlos come." He informed as he stepped out of the way.

Carlos stood in the center of the room that was dimly light with a gun trained on Lucy; Lucy was tied to a chair and gagged with what was originally her blindfold. The five men were against the wall and hidden out of view as the Rabb's entered.

"Lucy!" Mac cried as she saw her daughter with a gun pointed at her, Lucy's eyes clearly showed fear as her eyes darted between her parents and the men hidden throughout the room. Mac and Harm noticed their daughter's eyes, but not in enough time as the five men emerged from the darkness they grabbed each of them. They tried to resist but heard Carlos cough, without a word spoken he gestured to the gun in his hand trained on Lucy. They both gave up as the men searched them, finding both of their guns.

"So nice of you two too join us, lets go have our reunion." Carlos laughed as his men led the family out of the restaurant. Carlos paid Ramon and followed his party out the door, as they got into the jeeps and left for the house.


	11. Sweet Sacrifice

Disclaimer in chapter 1. I do not own the song 'Sweet Sacrifice' either I just love the song for a title…I don't even own my car, so obviously I am not making any money.

Thanks to all that reviewed, I forgot to mention I was moving that was why it took so long to update last time, so I am sorry about that. Now I have the time to finish this story, so please continue to review.

**Chapter 11**

**Sweet Sacrifice**

The jeep bumped along the unpaved road, no one had said anything the whole trip. Lucy looked at her parents with tear built up in her eyes, her glance exchanged between her mom and dad.

"We were a trap, you knew it was trap." Lucy cried. Harm and Mac's gaze softened as it focused on their daughter.

"You didn't honestly think we would not come did you?" Mac asked, Lucy hung her head, a smile snuck across her face.

"We wanted you to come and rescue us." The smile disappeared. "But Palmer told us we were a trap, and we know he wants to hurt you, and we can't help but feel it is our fault." Lucy continued to explain, if it weren't for the guns trained on them Mac would have hugged her daughter.

"We knew that, and that wasn't going to stop us." Mac finished, Lucy began to cry.

"I am so sorry, we thought Palmer was you." Lucy apologized, looking at her father. "That's why we got into the car, we are so sorry." At this Lucy began to cry harder, Harm's fist began to clench.

"You and Natalie were not the first to be tricked by Palmer, it's all my fault, I don't want you or your sister to ever think this is your fault do you understand?" Harm instructed, Lucy nodded a look of relief was on her face.

"So sweet." Carlos sneered from the passenger seat, "But we are here." The family turned and looked, it was a decent size beach house, insignificant as it matched the other beach houses that dotted the coastline. The nearest house was to far for anybody to see or hear anything; plus the palm trees obstructed what little view there could be. The family was forced out at gunpoint and forced into the house, as they entered the house Carlos pulled Lucy back from her parents. Mac and Harm whipped around to watch as their daughter was being pushed into a room against her will.

"LUCY!" They both yelled they moved to grab her, but the men that accompanied Carlos moved to block them. Carlos locked the door after Lucy and turned to the family.

"Senor Palmer is waiting." He gestures to the wooden steps that leads to the second floor, Harm and Mac are pushed back towards them, they move slowly, reluctantly their eyes glued to the door. They then turn to walk up the steps, it had been over a decade since they last saw Palmer, and the last time they did Palmer was trying to kill them. Carlos moved ahead of them, no doubt to inform Palmer they were here, they kept their original pace. Carlos disappeared into a room down a hall, he was there for a few seconds before reemerging, and he gestured for the two to approach. The men following Harm and Mac pushed them with their guns to make them go faster. Mac and Harm finally reached the door; they paused before being forced through the doorframe. Palmer stood his back to Harm and Mac looking out the window and onto the beach, he turned when he heard them enter, he smiled.

"Mac, Harm it's been too long." He moved over towards Mac and checked her out entirely before smiling satisfactory. "Mac I see you haven't changed a bit." Harm moved to block Mac, this only got a chuckle. "And I see you are still the over protective, stubborn man you always were Harm." Palmer added as he moved back behind his desk, it was a beautiful desk an antique desk with intricate hand carvings. The chair behind it was a typical office chair in which when Palmer sat in it he was able to lean back and prop his feet up on the corner of his desk.

"Were here Palmer, you have us both, now send our daughters back to the US." A smile crept across Palmer's face as he let out a slow chuckle.

"Now here is what I see is a problem with that, I release your daughters and then I have nothing to bargain with. I've also had so much fun with your daughters here…" On that note Harm lurched forward across desk, taking Palmer by the collar of his shirt and pulling him to where they were face to face. The other men moved pushing Mac to the side as they ripped Harm off of him.

"What did you do to my daughters!" Harm screamed, Palmer started laughing as he straightened out his shirt, and the men pulled Harm into a chair.

"Whether or not you believe it I didn't do anything. I even offered them food but they refused." Palmer turned to face Mac who was standing against the wall, he straightened up and walked over to her and whispered in her ear. Mac then turned and slapped him some of the men moved towards her, but Palmer razed his hand to stop them.

"You're a sick man." Mac spat, Palmer rubbed his face and laughed, Harm looked on his face turning dark red.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know Harm." Palmer teased as he sat back down in his chair, his eyes not moving off of Mac, Mac knowing she had his attention decided to speak.

"On the phone you told us that we would exchange Harm and I for our daughters, you have us now, now hold up your part of the bargain." Mac ordered.

"I can't believe you two are that naïve." Palmer sneered.

"We are not naïve, we had no other option." Mac snapped, Palmer crossed his arms across his chest.

"Off course, why the dynamic duo would never do anything on impulse. I did know that the only way I could get you two here on my terms was to take your daughters, your sole kryptonite outside of each other." Neither Harm or Mac responded to that, there was no sense in denying the truth, but the unspoken question lingered in the air…'now what?'

Lucy was shoved into the room they were originally held in, she found Natalie curled up on her cot.

"Natalie!" Lucy raced to her side, resting her hands on her sister's face and side waiting for her to look up. "Natalie are you ok?" Natalie rolled over enough to face her sister.

"I've been better." She managed; Lucy choked back tears as she looked at her sister.

"He has them. Mom and Dad came, and now Palmer has them." Natalie managed to sit up and look her sister square in the eye.

"What do you think is going to happen?" She asked, Lucy shock her head.

"I don't know, but they've gotten out of tighter predicament before I know they will do it again." Lucy assured, Natalie smiled.

"Yeah remember the time we went to those caves in New Mexico and Dad thought he could follow us, even though mom told him he couldn't, and he got stuck!" The twins shared a laugh, though it wasn't what Lucy was referring to, it was still nice to laugh. Both of them recalled the panic look in their dad's eyes, as he squirmed trying to get out, their mom was laughing so hard and to busy taking pictures to help. It was up to Natalie and Lucy who were still back in the caves to help maneuver their dad out. It was a strong argument for mom that the twins would some day grow up to be marines.

"But you're right we are going to get out of this.' Natalie assured just then the door to the room opened and a shadow was cast onto the ground.

"Let the women go." Harm finally spoke up after a long pregnant pause.

"What?" Mac and Palmer spoke simultaneously.

"Let Mac and the girls go, it's always been between you and me Palmer, and it should stay that way. You have me that's all you've ever wanted." Harm explained, Palmer had an excellent poker face to which Harm couldn't read the expression, by the look on Mac's face it was either flabbergasted or upset that Harm was sacrificing himself. Mac was about to speak, but was interrupted by Palmer.

"Let me tell you what I am going to do…"

* * *

Please review…the more reviews I get the faster I will update. Tell me what you think too I love incorporating people's opinion into the story…who do you think the mysterious shadow is? What do you think Palmer is going to do? I want to know what y'all think! 


	12. Backup Plan

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

Thanks to all that reviewed I love reading them!

**Chapter 12**

**Backup Plan**

…_."But you're right we are going to get out of this.' Natalie assured just then the door to the room opened and a shadow was cast onto the ground…._

Lucy grabbed Natalie by the wrist and together they made a mad run for the door, neither knew where they were going to go, but they were going to get out. They were almost to the door when the figure stepped into the light, who it was brought the girls to a complete halt.

_"Let me tell you what I am going to do…"_

Palmer loved that he had both Harm and Mac enticed, fixed on every word. He moved close to Harm, as long as he was being held down Palmer enjoyed the fact that he could tower above him, even Mac had move closer to hear what he had to say.

"I am going to keep Mac, and you…and I will let one twin go first you pick, and if you keep your word and both of you stay I will let the second one go." Palmer proposed the look on both of their faces was priceless.

"NO!" Harm exclaimed.

"We can not pick a daughter!" Mac snapped. Harm was struggling against the men.

"The way I see it you have no other choice, eventually both of your daughters will be safe in the US." Palmer then moved intimately closer to Mac. "After I get rid of Harm, you and I can catch up, and maybe someday if I grow tired of you I will let you go back to your daughters."

"You're a sick man!" Mac sneered, trying to put distance between her and Palmer, Palmer grew frustrated and grabbed Mac pulling her closer, Harm tried to jump out of his chair, but was restrained by the men. Mac grabbed Palmer's arm and moved her body to where she was able to flip Palmer over her back and had him pinned to the ground. Carlos pulled out his gun and aimed at Mac.

"MAC GUN!" Harm warned, Mac looked up at Carlos and right into the barrel of his gun….

A gunshot rang through the house breaking Lucy and Natalie out of their trance. The figure pulled the twins toward the door.

"RUN!" He ordered, the girls were quick to obey, the man followed behind, he had his gun ready looking around the house to make sure nobody was following them. Both twins stopped at the foot of the steps he knew they wanted to run up to their parents.

"GO, they'll be ok!" He encouraged, the twins knew they could trust him as they raced out the door, there was a truck they had never seen before waiting outside the door. "Get in!" He ordered the girls jumped in the cabin of the truck. He jumped into the driver's seat the keys were still in the engine, he pulled out. Two men at the end of the drive moved in front of the truck guns pulled… "GET DOWN!" Natalie and Lucy both ducked under the dashboard, as he plowed right through the two men, they fired after him, the bullets mostly hit the tailgate, one shattered the back window glass fell on the seat, but other then that nothing serious. As soon as they were a safe distance from the house, both twins emerged from under the dashboard; they turned to their rescuer with a smile of pure gratitude on their faces.

"Uncle Victor what are you doing here?!"

**Ten Hours Earlier**

**First Sergeant Victor Galindez apartment **

**Mexico City, Mexico **

His cell phone rang Victor grumbled as he moved out from under his sheets, he stumbled about his two bedroom apartment unable to find his phone. His phone was about to go to voicemail when he finally reached it.

"Hola." He answered, mistaking his cell phone for his landline; he was still a little groggy.

"Victor its Harm." It took a few seconds for it to registrar with the former gunny.

"Sir…It's been awhile." Galindez answered not sure how to answer.

"Sorry to wake you, I know your stationed right now in Mexico City and I know its late, but I have a major request."

"Of course sir what is it." Harm went on to explain their scenario.

**Tijuana, Mexico**

The plane landed on a dirt airstrip on the coast of Baja California. Victor disembarked the plane dressed in civilian attire. He rented a car and drove to the hotel where he booked a room where he could wait on the Captain and Colonel to arrive. He had never been to Baja and under different circumstances he would have loved to tour it, but that would have to wait for a later date. It wasn't long until his cell phone rang again; it was the captain.

"I need you to take a little road trip." Harm requested.

**Cocina de Abuela**

**Rosarito, Mexico**

Victor entered the small family owned restaurant, he was dressed in local farmers' clothes in order to blend in with the population, and not be spotted as an American. He took a seat at a table against the wall, he positioned himself where he could nonchalantly see the door, and at the same time blend in with the dinner crowd. A young waitress approached him and took his order. He ate his food slowly he had purchased a local newspaper in order to pass the time, as the dinner crowd began to dwindle he began to fear that these men were not going to show. The waitress reappeared to refill his drink.

"Tu quieres un dulce de pinole?" She offered.

"Si, gracias." Victor accepted grateful for something to stall with. Shortly after his dessert arrived the door swung open a group of men entered the room, but that was not what grabbed his attention. It was the pre-teen girl held in between two men, with guns in clear sight, the young girl was no doubt one of Harm and Mac's daughters, she was the spitting image of the two. Victor was unsure if it was Lucy or Natalie; he had not seen either of them since they were six. He watched as one of the men spoke to the owner, they were not loud enough to be over heard he then watched as the men moved to the backroom dragging along Harm and Mac's daughter. The owner returned to his business he was approaching the customers, he turned and approached Victor.

"Te gusta su comida?"

"Si, es mui delicioso, gracias." Victor answered, the owner was about to speak again when the door opened and in walked Harm and Mac. The owner left Victor and approached Harm and Mac, Victor did not look at them long, they spotted him but he quickly returned to his dish. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as the owner led them to the backroom, he knew it was a trap. He heard them talking in English; he quickly finished his dish and paid his bill, as did some of the rest of the guest growing uneasy with the unfolding scene. He went outside and got into his truck, it wasn't long before he witnessed Harm, Mac and one of their daughters being led out to the jeeps and loaded into them. Victor had been ordered to do nothing, only one twin would be there he would have to wait until they arrived at their final destination before acting. As the final man came out and jumped into the nearest jeep, they moved out. Victor started his truck and kept a safe distance as he followed the jeeps. He kept his distance as the jeeps came to a halt and the family was forced out and into a beach house. A few minutes later he saw Mac standing in the window of the second floor, he noticed a struggle and decided it was the best time to act. He drove right up to the front door, he did not have much time, he was hoping to pass as one of the local men working for Palmer, there was nothing else he could of done there was no vegetation surrounding the house in order to sneak up under cover. One of the men guarding the door approached him.

"Cual tu eres?" The man demanded, Victor wasted no time, he began to explain himself as he approached the man; who was not buying his story, but as soon as Victor was close enough he knocked the man out. He took his gun and entered the house; he followed the sound of two young girls talking to a door right beside the front door….

**Present Time**

**North bound Highway 1**

"You were in the restaurant, you were a backup plan." Lucy connected.

"You didn't think that with you two and Palmer involved that your parents wouldn't have back up did you?" Victor asked, the girls both shock their heads no.

"What about Mom and Dad though?" Natalie asked.

"I was instructed to get you two out and back to the US that was all." Victor informed.

"We have to go back!" Lucy cried.

"We have to go get Mom and Dad!" Natalie cried.

"It's too dangerous, your mom and dad can get out don't worry about them." Victor assured, but he knew it wasn't satisfactory enough for him or them.

* * *

I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter… I am watching "A Few Good Men" right now…I don't know maybe because it's 2 am in the morning I find that so ironic:) 


	13. Even Unsinkable Ships Sink

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed I am sorry it took me so long to update I am in the process of moving again. Also sorry its really short but I am going to try to update this weekend.

****

Chapter 13

Even Unsinkable Ships Sink

Victor pulled into a parallel parking space in front of a motel in one swift, fast movement; like something you would see only in a Bond movie. The twins looked up at him with their notorious 'puppy dog eyes', Victor sighed, he shifted in his seat so he could face the twins.

"You two are going to stay here in a room don't leave, open the door, anything…" He paused looking into the twins faces both full of hope. "I am going back for your parents."

"You can't go back alone." Lucy objected.

"You always need backup." Natalie added.

"This is coming from the mouths of Harm's daughters, the man notorious for charging off without any backup." Victor reminded.

"Yeah…but he would ground us through our graduation if we ever did that." Lucy pointed out.

"Our COLLEGE graduation." Natalie added looking up at Victor. "And he would never allow us to let you go back alone."

"He would also kill me if I put you two back in danger." Victor knew that it was pointless to argue.

"We don't have time to argue we have to go back, we all heard the gun shot, please Uncle Victor." Lucy pleaded. Victor turned back to his steering wheel, he knew there was no time to argue, he threw the car into drive and just as fast as he pulled in he pulled out.

Mac had been near death before, more times then she preferred. It was a strange numb feeling that swept her body momentarily as she stared down the barrel of the gun aimed right at her. What unfolded in what was really a matter of seconds felt like hours. Mac had never froze like this before, she never understood why people froze in critical moments. Whenever she would watch a drama TV shows and the hero would freeze she would dismiss it with a snort and a comment along the line of 'they're obviously not a marine'.

Then again the Titanic sunk and it was unsinkable; if that statement were true then even a marine can freeze.

She heard the sound of the bullet click into place, she heard Harm shout his warning, and she even felt Palmer squirm under her, all in a matter of mere milliseconds. Mac yanked Palmer in between her and the gun, normally she could not move a man his size that fast, but its amazing what adrenaline can do. She heard the bullet fire she heard Palmer grunt as the bullet pierced him, and Mac cried out as the bullet passed through Palmer and into her arm. She dropped Palmer, and fell to the floor clutching her arm, she looked up as Carlos turned to aim at her.

"NO!" Harm cried as he flung himself between Mac and Carlos, another shot was fired, but Mac didn't know what happened she witnessed as Harm struggled with Carlos, she got up to join the fight. Together they managed to free the gun from Carlos, but not before a third shot was fired. Carlos then fell on top of Mac, she then stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Harm help pull Carlos off of Mac, it was then that Mac realized that the third shot was aimed right at Carlos's abdomen. She turned to look at Harm, and realized in horror where the second shot ended up as she watched him buckle over, and as she heard the sound of more men arriving Mac raced to Harm's side. The door was flung open as more men armed with guns and aimed at the couple charged the room.

"HURRY UNCLE VICTOR, HURRY!" The twins cried as they watched the speedometer increase.

"I've already exceeded the speed limit in any country, I am going as fast as I can!" Victor argued, despite the fact that he knew the truck could go faster he did not want to flip the truck. They were only eight miles from the house, but to everyone in that truck they might as well had been on a separate continent. This time Victor didn't bother parking but pulled literally into the house. He grabbed his guns and jumped out of the truck. "Stay here!" He ordered the girls, knowing that any offspring of Harm and Mac wouldn't stay put for long, he hoped he could at least clear the house. As raced into the house he noticed there were no men downstairs, but he heard a lot of commotion coming from upstairs. He raced upstairs, not sure what he was getting into but in the pit of his stomach he had a horrible feeling.


	14. Slow Motion

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: I can't believe its been since July since I last updated I am so sorry that is what happens when you move twice in less then 3 months and then start up a new job. I finally have a weekend to myself, and I knew I needed to finish this story!

**Chapter 14**

**Slow Motion**

The next few minutes felt like an eternity it all unfolded in slow motion. As the doors burst open Harm was aware of the scene unfolding he pulled Mac close as Mac threw herself next to him. Harm was in no condition to fight, he held Mac close, he knew she would fight, she was a fighter, he knew she would try to protect both of them and their daughters.

From an outsider's perspective it probably looked like a scene from a cheesy drama as Mac raced to Harm's side and they held each other. As the door burst open and more armed men raced in Mac could feel Harm holding her not wanting her to fight. Mac had to fight it was not only part of her Marine instincts, but she had to do it, to protect Harm and their daughters. She turned to fight she knew the odds were against her, but she had to. Mac was able to unarm the first man grabbing him by the wrist she twisted his arm, he let out a yelp in pain and dropped his gun. Mac picked up the gun and hit him in the back of the head. Mac turned to defend herself from the second man but already found him on the ground, Harm had knocked him down. She took the gun and aimed at the third man, she fired…and hit him square in the chest. As the third man collapsed to the ground, Mac's skin felt like it was on fire, she knew the feeling … she had been shot. She didn't know which of the three men still standing shot her, but Mac fell to the ground clutching the gunshot wound. She heard another gun being fired before it all fell dark.

Harm watched as Mac crumbled to the ground he struggled to crawl to her side. Everything slowed down and seemed to draw on forever. Was this how he and Mac were going to die? It was more like the ending to an old fashion war movie, except life wasn't a script. Just before blanking out he heard more gun shots being fired and in his final seconds he hoped Victor came through and saved his daughters…his last thoughts drifted to his daughters and Mac.

Victor followed the sound of gunshots and found Harm and Mac on the ground, without hesitation he fired his gun. First at the man with his gun poised in the direction of Mac and then at the other two men flanking him. He was shooting to kill, he did not want them to get back up and fire again. Victor knelt down by Harm and Mac and checked for a pulse, they both had one but it was faint, he had to get them to the hospital. He heard a pair of footsteps rushing up the steps, expecting it was more armed men he turned around and aimed, but stopped when he saw the twins standing in the doorframe.

"MOM! DAD!" They cried, they looked at Victor fear written across their face.

"Their alive but we have to get them to a hospital. I am going to move your dad do you think you two can carry your mom?" The twins nodded as Victor in one swift movement picked Harm up and swung him above his shoulders, Lucy and Natalie struggled to pick their mom up, but the adrenaline aided them, as they were able to carry their mom out to the truck.

"Please hold on!" The girls pleaded as they got into the truck and took off for the hospital.

* * *

What do you think? I will update sometime this week…I promise I will because I want to get this story done for y'all! 


	15. No Pulse

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

A/N: I just got season 2 of JAG, I know I am a little far behind as they have recently released season 5 but someday I hope to own all the seasons in the meantime I'm lovin' season 1 and 2. I plan to spend my long weekend and finish this story so I can start a Numb3rs story. Side not I am not a doctor my medical knowledge only goes as far as my CPR/First aid training and my few years of life guarding and the episodes of Grey's Anatomy:), so don't hold me to anything!

**Chapter 15**

**No Pulse**

Dr. Javier Gomez leaned against the wall outside of the hospital; he was on his break and decided to grab a quick smoke. He knew the health risk of smoking but some habits he could not break he had been smoking since he was twelve. Today was an ordinary day, far from stressful, the hospital beds were occupied by a few overly sunburn tourists and dehydrated patients, and he was now smoking only out of boredom. He was putting out his cigarette when he noticed a pick up truck whipping up to the emergency room he raced over to see what the hurry was. The doors opened and twin girls, he presumed American, jumped out their outfits were covered in blood, the look on their faces was one of pure horror.

"Help us por favor!" They cried out half in English half in Spanish, Dr. Gomez had studied medicine in California and spoke English fluently.

"What happened?" He asked he looked at the girls and they turned and pointed into the truck. A man, he presumed Mexican, was struggling trying to remove two adults who were slumped over.

"Our parents, they have been shot." One of the twins cried, Dr. Gomez turned back to an orderly who had been smoking not far from him.

"Go inside, get two gurneys and some help!" He ordered in Spanish, the orderly rushed to obey. Dr. Gomez leaned in to check. "I'm Dr. Javier Gomez I am a surgeon." He introduced himself to the man in Spanish and then repeated the introduction in English.

"I'm First Sergeant Victor Galindez, I'm an American Marine." Spoke up the driver, "This is Captain Harmon Rabb and Colonel Sarah Mackenzie Rabb they've been shot, I'm not sure how many times or where." He pointed at the twins. "These two are their daughters." Dr. Gomez nodded but his attention was on the Colonel and Captain. He checked for a pulse on the captain first, at that moment the orderly returned with a nurse by his side and a gurney.

"He has a slight pulse, we need to get him to the OR prep him for surgery." He ordered in Spanish as the orderly assisted him in removing the captain from the truck and placing him on the gurney, the nurse and orderly pushed the gurney towards the ER door where Dr. Rodriguez was waiting. He pulled the colonel towards him and placed her on the gurney, he checked for a pulse, no pulse, he checked again. He looked up into the eyes of the twin girls their eyes full of question and hope. "I'm sorry there is no pulse." The twins started to shake.

"No there has to be a way to save her, she can't be dead she can't die!" They cried holding on to each other.

"I'm sorry…"

"No!" The girls interrupted. "She saved our lives you cant let her die, she has to live she just has too!" Dr. Gomez looked at the hope in their eyes; he jumped on the gurney and began CPR.

"Let's go, we have to move fast now!" He ordered in Spanish, the team worked to push the gurney into the ER as Dr. Gomez tried to resuscitate the colonel.

Mac was back in the desert, back to where it all began her first mission with Harm. She looked around she was alone in the desert, she never believed she would be back here. It turned to night in the blink of an eye, and the desert night sky was littered with stars and constellations and for a moment she was memorized by the sheer beauty and endless possibilities of endless space. Her thoughts were no longer distracted by the sky they then drifted back to her daughters and Harm she began looking for them in a panic.

"Harm? Natalie? Lucy?" She called looking all around for any sign of her family, anyone, but there was no one she was alone in the desert. "Where am I?" Suddenly there was a familiar voice behind her.

"You're dead."

* * *

I have the next chapter ready I will post it soon, I will love some reviews though, and the episode is almost over! 


	16. Hold On

A/N: Were almost done :(, but as promised here is the next chapter I told you it would be a long wait.

**Chapter 16**

**Hold On**

"Uncle Matt." Mac cried throwing her arms around her uncle, she looked up at him and smile all of sudden memories from her early adulthood flooded her and for a moment she forgot everything. "Uncle Matt it is so good to see you!"

"Hello Sarah." He greeted noticing her long hair. "You've grown your hair out since I last saw you." Mac smiled and let her hair fall out of the ponytail she had pulled it back in.

"I did, do you like it?" She asked, her uncle nodded his approval. He sat down on the mountainside and patted the spot next to her.

"Do you know where you are Sarah?" He asked in a now serious tone.

"Back in Arizona, Red Rock Mesa." She replied matter of fact her eyes looking at the view, while Hawaii had a view it was nothing like the view in Arizona.

"No Sarah, this is your Heaven, you died." Suddenly every memory flashed in front of her eyes from Virginia to her wedding to Harm, the birth of her daughters, watching her daughters grow up, moving to Hawaii, her daughters being kidnapped, Mexico, and then her final moments. She remembered the gun shots, she remember Harm collapsing her final thoughts of Harm and her daughters safety, and the extreme pain…. She turned back to her uncle he was seated his legs pulled up close to him, almost in a childlike posture, his eyes concentrating on Sarah waiting for her to connect the dots.

"No." Mac cried standing up looking around. "I can't be in dead."

"You are Sarah how do you think I am able to be with you back here in Arizona?" He asked he then looked out across the desert the night sky turned to day again it was broad daylight and a pair of binoculars appeared beside him, he handed them over to Sarah. "Look off into the distance." He instructed, Mac snatched the binoculars from her uncle refusing to believe that she was dead, she raised the binoculars to her eyes and followed the direction of where her uncle was pointing. Out on the horizon there was a figure approaching, a man, Mac adjusted the binoculars and gasped at the man…Brumby.

"He can't be here, I don't want him to be here." Her uncle looked up puzzled.

"Is he not your fiancée?" Mac's hands started to shake.

"He was, but we never got married, he tried to kill Harm and my daughters I don't want him here." With that he disappeared, she looked back at her uncle for an explanation.

"It is your heaven, you can choose who you want here." He leaned back against a rock and crossed his arms. "So you married that sailor you found in a rose garden?" Mac smiled recalling how the stolen Declaration led Harm and Mac out to the desert on their first mission together and back to her uncle.

"That I did, and we have two beautiful daughters, Natalie and Lucy."

"And he made you happy?"

"He has been perfect for me." Mac started to cry. "Is he ok? Are my daughters ok?"

"If you mean are they dead look around, they would be here."

"But are they ok?" Mac demanded her uncle shock his head.

"I am not an angel Sarah, I'm only here to guide you through this." Mac backed away from him.

"I'm not dead, I can't be, the girls are only 11 I have to be there, who else will they be able to confess their crushes to? Be there to talk about their first kiss, when they go to prom, go to college, when they get married and when they have babies. I have to be there for them, I have to be there for Harm I can't be dead I have to go back!" Mac turned leave.

"Where are you going Sarah?" Her uncle called after her.

"I'm going back, I can't leave my family, they need me and I need them, I'm not ready!" She yelled back walking off toward the horizon, not sure exactly what she was doing.

**Waiting Room**

**Tijuana General Hospital**

**1300 hours**

Victor held the twins they had been escorted to the waiting room, while the colonel and captain had been taken to the OR. Victor had to place several calls and go through several channels in order to get medical information in order to fill out the forms for both of them, the twins did not know any medical detail, but he was able to fill them out. Now it was the worse part to sit and wait, sit and wait and pray for a miracle. He looked at Natalie and Lucy who were sitting either side of him; he was holding them close they were trembling. A nurse had offered to take the girls to get them cleaned up, but they had refused to leave Victor they were too afraid. Victor had called the US consulate in Tijuana for the twins safety he was having them relocated there, from there they would be escorted back to San Diego where they would stay until further arrangements could be made. Victor would also arrange for Harm and Mac to be transferred to a hospital in San Diego as soon as they were stable. He wasn't giving up hope, they would both pull through this, Mac was a Marine and she would survive. The sound of footsteps brought Victor's attention away from the twins, a man and women approached them escorted by three marines, he knew they were from the consulate. The man and woman were both dressed in civilian business attire a serious look on their face, Victor looked at the girls who did not acknowledge the American party approaching. He had only made a passing mention to the twins about the consulate he knew they would not want to leave, but for their safety he could not keep them here.

"Natalie, Lucy the people from the consulate are here." Victor informed, the girls snapped out of their concentration and looked over at those approaching.

"No Uncle Victor please we want to stay here!" They pleaded, Victor shook his head he wouldn't let the girls win this one, even with Palmer dead he couldn't risk someone from his entourage coming after the twins, Harm would kill Victor if he got his daughters this far and ended up getting them kidnapped or worse again. "No girls I'm sorry you have to go with them, they will escort you back to San Diego where you will be safe. I will call you with updates I promise." The girls tried to object as the American party from the consulate approached.

"I am Agent Dameon Ford and this is Agent Laura Patterson we are from the US consulate." Agent Patterson looked down at the girls and gave a comforting smile.

"You two must be Natalie and Lucy Rabb, you can call me Laura are you ready to go?" The girls tried to object, clinging to Victor, but he knew they couldn't stay, he pulled them off and handed the girls over.

"Take good care of them." Galindez instructed, he tried not to look at the twins' faces avoiding their look of disappointment and sadness. "I promise I will call as soon as I learn of something." He promised them, handing them his cell phone, the girls followed the group, and their heads hung low in one last objection.

**ICU Unit **

**Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. Room 214**

**Tijuana General Hospital **

**1630 hours**

Harm woke up feeling groggy his vision was blurred, from what he could make out he was in a hospital, and he could not understand what was being spoken around him. He turned to his left to see a petite Hispanic woman, standing at 5'2" and in a clean uniform next to him; she smiled at him and began to speak to him in Spanish. Harm shook his head, he wasn't able to make out what she was saying, she nodded in understandment, she then took his temperature and blood pressure and left the room. Suddenly memories of the past couple of days came flooding back, Harm sat up, still disoriented by the anesthetics he looked around, he looked down at the IV's in his arm, he was about to rip them out when he heard a voice speaking in English.

"We're glad to see your awake, you gave us quite a scare." Harm looked up and at his doctor approaching.

"Yes I tend to do that, where am I? Where is my family?" The doctor tried to have Harm lay back down.

"I am Doctor Rodriguez you are in the ICU unit in Tijuana General Hospital, you were shot you suffered from a lot of blood loss, it is a miracle in itself you pulled through." Doctor Rodriguez explained.

"And my family?" Harm demanded.

"Your daughters are safe they have already been escorted to the US consulate here in Tijuana they will be taken back to San Diego shortly. They didn't leave without objection mind you, they are very head strong and persistent." Harm smiled that was his daughters all right, he was getting very groggy but the doctor had yet mentioned about Mac.

"And my wife?" He asked trying not to give back into the sleep; the doctor avoided eye contact with Harm.

"She is still in surgery." He left out the detail she had arrived with no pulse. "I will go check on her, you just get the sleep you need." He instructed, Harm tried to fight the sleep, but was no stranger to surgery and knew it was best not to fight the drugs.

"Please God let my girls and Mac be alright." The prayer slipped his lips before he once again lost conscience.


	17. Last Chance

A/N: I finally finished the story I know I go on my own angle, but it works, and it's finished…finally.

**Chapter 17**

**Last Chance**

Mac kept walking as the scenery changed around her from Arizona to Virginia; she took a deep breath as she walked into JAG headquarters. She walked into the office it was eerie there was no one around, but it was the same as they had left it, she walked into Harm's old office and ran her fingers along his desk, she looked at the frames on the walk and the model airplane. She left his office it wasn't the same without Harm, pouring over a case or smiling up at her with his flyboy grin. She proceeded to her old office. It was still the same with the vintage Marine recruiting poster, and all the case files stacked in orderly piles on her desk. She saw a frame sitting on her desk, she picked it up, it was a picture of her and Harm in Afghanistan, the same frame Harm had re-gifted her. She looked at the picture, tracing Harm's face, in the past twelve years Harm's face had aged, but in her mind he was still the same man she had met in the rose garden over two decades ago.

Two decades ago…it's hard to believe how long they've known each other and how it took nearly nine years to finally stop dancing around each other. She regretted how long it took, but never regretted a day afterwards. Her mind flashed back to the time she told Harm that she was pregnant.

_Eleven years_ _Ten months and 27 days ago_

_Mac took the elevator up to the apartment that she and Harm had moved to shortly after their wedding, her hands resting protectively on her still flat abdomen. _

"_It's nothing but a miracle." Her doctor assured her after confirming for the fifteenth time to Mac that she was pregnant. _

_The elevator door opened on her floor, she walked over to the door and stood outside hesitantly she was ecstatic to tell Harm, but was curious how he would react. They had talked about children, Harm making repeated reference to their five year plan, but after the doctor informed her of how little percent chance of pregnancy Mac had nearly given up, they were starting to talk about adoption. She had tucked the box underneath her arm, a gift for Harm, the way she was going to tell him she was pregnant. She took the box in one hand and used her other hand to open the door. Inside Harm had the radio on as he was stirring a pot on the stove; he looked up and smiled when he saw Mac walk in._

"_How was the doctor's visit?" He asked, Mac told him she was going in for a routine visit. _

"_Fine." She moved closer to the stove to peak into the pot, "What's for dinner?"_

"_Spaghetti with homemade sauce, what's that?" He pointed at the gift in Mac's hand. _

"_A little something I picked up for you on the way home." Mac teased as she put the box down on the set table. "You can open before dinner." Harm smiled he loved presents, then his face turned quickly to panic._

"_It's not our anniversary is it?" Mac laughed at the deer caught in the headlights look on Harm._

"_No." She laughed, "It's not our anniversary, just a little present." Harm's face relaxed, as he poured the sauce over the spaghetti. _

"_Dinner is ready." He announced, Mac took her seat at the table as Harm brought over both their plates. _

"_Good I'm starving, but first open you gift." Harm sat down looking like a little boy at Christmas he ripped off the bow the saleswomen had tied around the box. He opened the box and inside…was a little Marine and little Sailor outfit. Harm picked the pieces of clothing up and looked at it questionably, Mac waited for him to make the connection. _

"_This is for a newborn." Harm was thinking out loud._

"_Yes." Was all Mac offered. _

"…_but why would we…" Harm trailed off mid thought and looked up at Mac. "…are you….are you…?" Harm stumbled over his words; it was hard to catch him off his guard._

"_I thought it would be nice for him or her to have both uniforms." Was all she replied, in two seconds Harm was off his seat and by Mac's side he scooped her up and swung her around the room laughing. _

"_We're having a baby!" He cried for the entire apartment complex to hear._

A tear fell down Mac's face as she remembered that day and how protective and loving Harm was to the girls and to Mac, she couldn't die, not now, the girls were too young and Harm needed her, she needed Harm.

"You still have one final chance." Mac swiveled around to find her uncle standing behind her.

"What?" Mac asked.

"You wouldn't be the first; people have come back from the dead before. You have one final chance and that's now – they're still trying to revive you."

"But how?" Mac stumbled.

"Don't ask me, just thank the Big Man upstairs, everyday, everyday you thank him for one more day with your family." Mac nodded putting the frame down on the table, all of a sudden she felt a surge through her chest, and everything around her went black.


	18. Nothing Short of a Miracle

**Chapter 18**

**Nothing Short of a Miracle**

**Recovery Floor**

**Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. Room 418**

**Tijuana General** **Hospital**

**1900 Hours**

"Mac!" Harm woke up from his drugged sleep, "MAC!" His memory starting to clear he remembered the house, and getting shot….Harm turned to the nurse next to him, she looked puzzled. Harm couldn't remember the Spanish word for wife, he searched his memory for it, when a familiar face entered.

"Victor!" Harm nearly shouted, taken into consideration his groggy state, "Victor how is Mac? The girls, the girls are ok right?" Victor came over and stood next to his bedside looking at his superior officer.

"The girls are fine sir, the US consulate has arranged for them to return to San Diego, NCIS is going to watch them until Captain Turner gets there."

"Sturgis?" Harm was confused.

"I called him right before the consulate picked up the girls, he was on leave in Los Angeles he was on the first flight to San Diego, and he agreed to take care of them until further arrangements are made sir." Harm nodded, assured that his daughters were in capable hands, Sturgis would protect them.

"Mac, what about Mac?" Not forgetting his wife, his heart nearly stopped when he saw the reaction on Victor's face. "Tell me she's not…"

"She is fine Captain Rabb." Came a heavily Hispanic accent behind him, Harm and Victor both turned to find Dr. Gomez, a reassuring smile on his face. "I have to say sir your wife is a fighter, she came in with no pulse, but your daughters were persistent and I had to try, she was in surgery for a couple of hours, and flat lined several times, but she finally came through. She is in ICU now, but I expect her to make a full recovery. "Dr. Gomez assured, Victor smiled at the news and Harm let out a cry of relief, quickly composing himself he attempted to sit up in bed.

"Can I see her?" He asked, forgetting momentarily that he to was recovering from surgery.

"I'm afraid senor you are in no condition, just only twenty minutes ago we pulled you out of ICU." Dr. Gomez reminded, Harm looked up at First Sergeant Galindez.

"Then can he go? Only for a few minutes, make sure she is alright?" Harm was persistent and wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. Dr. Gomez looked at Galindez, and shrugged.

"I don't see a problem with a quick visit." Harm relaxed and nodded up at Victor to go.

"Thank you doctor." Harm thanked.

"Don't thank me; the colonel pulling through was nothing short of a miracle." The doctor assured, as he stepped out to escort Galindez to ICU. Harm rested back against his bed as the nurse from earlier came back in to check on him, she gave him a reassuring smile, as he smiled back at her, he wanted to desperately to go back to sleep but would wait for Victor to return.

**ICU Unit **

**Colonel Sarah Mackenzie Rabb Room 216**

Dr. Gomez escorted the first sergeant to the Colonel's room, he glanced at his watch, and told him he had five minutes. Victor thanked him and stepped into her room. He looked around at all the machines and wires, and then down at the colonel. Who was peacefully sleeping, the heart monitor stationed next to her was beeping at a regular rate, not sure what to do stepped up next to the colonel.

"Colonel, it's me ma'am First Sergeant…Gunny…Victor Galindez." He paused not sure what to say next. "Captain Rabb sent me down to check on you, well you know how he can be ma'am….and I don't mean that to be insulting…anyway he is fine ma'am, going to pull through just like you. Your girls are ok, physically that is, they're worried, but there are on their way to San Diego, Captain Turner will take care of them from their ma'am. Your girls are fighters ma'am you should be proud of them…they'll make good marines someday…" The colonel let out a sigh; he wasn't sure if that meant she heard him or if she was just sighing. "You'll be ok ma'am, everyone will be ok." He stood up to salute, despite the fact that she couldn't return it. "Semper fi, ma'am." With that he turned back to go back to the Captain's room. He took the elevator up to the captain's room, he found the captain sitting up in bed trying to talk in Spanglish to the nurse who was smiling sympathetically at him. He stopped the minute he saw Galindez walk in.

"She's ok sir, she's ok." He assured the captain smiled, he then smiled at the nurse before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Victor Galindez made the decision to stay until the Captain or Colonel dismissed him, he took a seat at the foot of the captain's bed and waited.


	19. Epilogue: One Month Later

Final chapter/epilogue I hope y'all have enjoyed, just please review!

**Chapter 19**

**Epilogue: One Month Later**

Harm and Mac both spent a few days at Tijuana General Hospital until they were stable enough to be life flighted to the military hospital in San Diego. Where they spent two more weeks, in the mean time the twins stayed with Sturgis in his apartment, as he had taken over as head JAG in San Diego. The girls were more then relieved when their parents were able to walk out of the hospital and they were on their way back to Honolulu. Galindez stayed with Harm and Mac until they were sent to San Diego, and he then returned to Mexico City, but now kept more in touch.

In less then three weeks Harm was back at being head of JAG Island Circuit, and Mac returned a week later. The girls hesitantly returned back to school, but both Harm and Mac would have to be there to pick up the girls after swim practice or school.

When the local police went to the beach house, after they had spoken to Galindez, and before Harm or Mac completely regained conscious they found it completely empty. The furniture, food and blood spatter remained; it was as if someone came in took the bodies and left. Harm and Mac were not satisfied with that, but were reassured with the fact that it would be nearly impossible for Palmer to survive. Life was returning to normal…at least as normal as it could for the Rabb's.

Harm was no longer firing off a gun in the courtroom, but as if the admiral had cursed him he had a lieutenant commander just like him, keeping him on his toes and constantly getting into trouble. Mac was having fun traveling and taking care of cases abroad, but the greatest satisfaction was coming home to Harm and her girls. After long trips when Harm would go on a run, Mac and the girls would curl up in her bed with Ben and Jerry's and talk about boys and their day, until Harm came home in which they would either watch M*A*S*H reruns or help the girls with their homework. It was in their way the Rabb's own happily ever after.


End file.
